Spring comes and goes...

On April 1 this year it snowed - no fooling. Since then, the pattern is that we have one or two days of sunshine and warm temperatures, followed by cold rainy weather. We retrieve the winter jackets from the end of the closet and carry on.

"What's the weather like in Paris?" someone asked me today. So far I haven't checked, and I probably won't. Weather will be what it will be - I usually pack as if I were going to be at home here in the NW, and that's almost never a bad thing.

For this trip, my new toy is a mini-computer. For years, I've dreamed of a computer you really could put in a purse, and finally one is available at a reasonable price. (I used to drool over the tiny machines on a Japanese website, but prices started around $3400!)

Now I have the hp mini - a most charming small computer I first encountered when an obliging staff member at the Inn at Laguna Beach loaned us one to print boarding passes.

"We keep this around for guests to check email," he said. Much easier than running to the public library (which was closed Sunday night anyway!)

Now I have one of my own. It's loaded with programs, faster than my trusty Mac - and it fits in my purse.

(When I asked a sales associate at the Apple store whether Apple plans to jump on the Netbook trend, he said, with appropriate condescension, "There's an incredibly high level of dissatisfaction with netbooks.")

We shall see!